South Korea & Europe top broadband speeds & usage

South Korea has the highest broadband penetration according to data collected by Akamai, which operates a global content delivery network. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company sees the number of connections to its network and make calculations about the Internet penetration, usage and network behaviors.

The latest report, scheduled to be released later this week says that South Korean high-broadband penetration was 83 percent at the end of 2011. Akamai defines any connections that connect to its platform at speeds in excess of 5 Mbps as high-broadband connections.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, 27 percent of all connections to the Akamai’s network were made at high broadband speeds exceeding 5 Mbps. According to the data collected by Akamai, Europe dominates the list of top ten countries. Within the list of top 10 countries for high broadband adoption, seven are in Europe. The Netherlands has 67 percent high broadband adoption and follows South Korea. The United States ranks twelfth with 44 percent of its connections exceeding the 5 Mbps mark.

100 Fastest Cities Worldwide

Of the top 50 fastest cities, two were in Sweden. The rest were in South Korea and Japan with Hong Kong being the other lone entrant. The average speeds of the top 50 cities/regions were between 21.8 Mbps and 8.5 Mbps, with South Korea’a Teagu taking the top spot during the fourth quarter of 2011.

Using peak connections as a measure, South Korean cities of Taejon and Taegu logged speeds of 59.2 Mbps and 56.7 Mbps respectively.

Of the 100 fastest cities worldwide, 69 cities including 61 in Japan, six in South Korea, one in Australia, as well as Hong Kong, rounded out the top 100.

22 US cities ranked among the top 100.

Boston Metro has Q4 2011 average speeds of 8.4 Mbps, making it the fastest in the US, tied with Bergen Country, New Jersey.

North Bergen, New Jersey is the 24th ranked city by peak connection speed of 40.7 Mbps